UK MoD Main Building. (UK MoD Crown Copyright)
Exclusive: UK investment plan unlikely to be made public, key industry insider says.
The announcement will be a blow to industry.
19 MAR 2026
By
Olivia
Savage
Editor in Chief, Clarion Defence & Security
The UK’s highly anticipated Defence Investment Plan (DIP) is unlikely to be made public, DSEI Gateway understands.
Speaking during a DSEI Gateway webinar on 18 March, Peter Hewitt, Co-Founder of UDSS, stressed: “it is important to emphasise that the DIP will not be a published document” made available to the public. Instead, it will be “held within the Ministry of Defence… as there’s clearly a security element.”
UDSS (Universal Defence and Security Solutions) is a defence consultancy with well-established links to the UK Ministry of Defence.
Commenting on Hewitt’s statement, an MoD spokesperson told DSEI Gateway: “We are working flat out to finalise the Defence Investment Plan and it will be published as soon as possible.”
Industry is widely expecting the investment plan to be made public, much like the previous Defence Equipment Plan released in 2023. Keeping it within the MoD will be a significant blow to industry, which has been awaiting the plan to clarify the UK military’s requirements, capability priorities, and future demand signals.
Initially due to be released in the autumn, the investment plan has also been repeatedly delayed, much to the frustration of industry.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the UK's Chief of the Defence Staff, speaking at DSEI UK 2025.
The delay is widely believed to be partly because of a GBP28 billion defence funding shortfall projected over the next decade.
Commenting on the delay in December, Rupert Pearce, the government’s new National Armaments Director appointed to reform procurement, said that the investment plan was in its final stages: “We’re talking about days now, not weeks or months.”
The UK’s most senior military officer, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, then acknowledged in January that: “We can’t do everything we would want to do as quickly as we would want to do it within the context of the budget we set.”
According to Hewitt, the plan is not expected to be released – whether internally or, if they choose to do so, publicly – until after the local elections in May.
Olivia
Savage
Editor in Chief, Clarion Defence & Security
Olivia Savage is the Editor in Chief of Clarion Defence & Security, organisers of DSEI and other defence events. Previously, she was a Senior Defence Journalist at Janes, specialising in electronic warfare, uncrewed systems, and space.